May 14 1975
From The Space Library
The U.S.S.R.'s Baykonur cosmodrome, located in the city of Leninsk near Tyuratam, was three to four times as big as Kennedy Space Center, U.S. Apollo-Soyuz Test Project commander Thomas P. Stafford said at an ASTP press briefing at Johnson Space Center. ASTP astronaut Vance D. Brand said that 50 000 persons inhabited the launch complex. The briefing followed the crew's return from the Soviet Union where they had participated in the final training session before the scheduled July launch [see 14-30 April].
The astronauts said that at the Soviet spaceport they had been shown "everything we had a requirement to see," the launch pad, spacecraft, test and checkout facilities, automatic checkout equipment (ACE) rooms, and crew quarters. The one "drastic difference" between the tour received by the Soviet cosmonauts in the U.S. and that of the American astronauts in the U.S.S.R., said Stafford, was "we didn't go to Disneyland over there." Astronaut Donald K, Slayton described the launch pad as "relatively simple." The spacecraft, assembled on top of a railroad car, was hauled to the pad about 4 days before launch. The stacked vehicle was jacked up and set on the pad; after checkout, the vehicle was rotated to the proper launch azimuth. The booster was held to the pad by four support arms which were popped out of the way by counterweights once the vehicle started to move.
Stafford said that Leninsk was a new city built in a desert. The continued construction activity indicated that the Soviets "are not slowing down one bit in their space program." The Soviets had told their U.S. counterparts that they would continue to have several manned flights a year operating in low earth orbit. (Transcript)
Marshall Space Flight Center had issued a request for proposals for a 10mo study of a space-based power-conversion and power-relay system, MSFC announced. The proposed study would examine alternate means for generating electrical power in space, with emphasis on identification and delineation of problem areas and new technology required for these power systems. (MSFC Release 75-90)
Fifteen years ago the launch of two U.S. satellites on the same day would have "blasted the top off of Page One," Ernest B. Furguson said in a Washington Star article. But when it happened 7 May – Explorer 53 and Anik 3-it "drew less coverage than two swallows returning to Capistrano." At a total cost of $44 million, to be shared by NASA and foreign friends, Explorer 53 Small Astronomy Satellite would study x-ray sources within and beyond the Milky Way, and Anik 3 would transmit communications back and forth across Canada.
The NASA space budget for FY 1975 was nearly $3 billion. "Considering inflation, that seems a bargain." The current space budget was "not quite 12 times what the. President has asked to handle the Vietnamese refugee effort for each of two years. You are free to say for yourself where the two programs stand on the relative scale of things." (Furguson, W Star, 14 May 75, A17)
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